The Promise of Passover

A study of often-overlooked scriptures related to the miracle of Passover

Many people know that Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in Jerusalem on a day known as “Palm Sunday,” but it’s important to understand that the arrival of Yeshua was foretold in prophecy, corresponding with significant dates on the Hebrew calendar and related to the preparation for Passover. If you don’t know what Palm Sunday is, it’s the day that Yeshua rode a donkey into Jerusalem in His third year of ministry, ascending the mountain as the crowds placed robes and branches on the road before him and sang “Hosanna to the son of David,” as described in all four of the Gospels (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; and John 12:12-18).

What many people don’t know is that Yeshua was not the first king to ride into Jerusalem atop a donkey. Long before Him, Solomon did the same, immediately before he was enthroned as king of Israel:

King David said, “Cause my son Solomon to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon, and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel, then blow the shofar, and say ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit upon my throne.” So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites, went down and caused Solomon to ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon [the spring alongside the Temple mount]. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the shofar, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise. (1 Kings 1:32-40)

Notice that Solomon’s triumphant entry on the mule (here I use ‘donkey’ and ‘mule’ interchangeably) takes place after his having been anointed king in the waters of the Gihon and immediately before his enthronement. Thus, this is not just a random account of his ascending the mountain, but an integral part of his ceremony of royal enthronement.

Moreover, this text brings to mind to a prophecy in Zechariah, which speaks of the coming Messiah, the future king, who will recapitulate the actions of Solomon:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

With this background in place, Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem takes on a deeper significance. First, He is deliberately recapitulating Solomon’s royal entry into Jerusalem when Solomon was enthroned as king. Second, he is performing a prophetic sign of the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy of the coming of Messiah. In other words, Yeshua is both the New Solomon (son of David) and the long-awaited Messiah. Should there be any doubt about this, the book of Matthew makes both very clear, since Matthew not only cites Zechariah 9, but the crowds describe Yeshua as none other than the ‘son of David,’ a title to which, above all people, Solomon originally bore the right!

But wait, there’s more: King Solomon was the one that was anointed with the task of building the first temple, and Yeshua was to build a new kind of temple, one that would be more permanent than any building. Also, it was a part of Eastern tradition that when a king would go out to war, he would ride a horse, because a horse is an animal of war. Horses are fast, agile, and they give the rider a good height advantage. Meanwhile, when a king would ride in on a donkey, that was a sign of peace. Donkeys are peaceful farming animals, they are slow and low to the ground. Thus, Yeshua’s humble arrival on a donkey signified His arrival as the Prince of Peace — remember also that King David was a king of war, having fought many battles, while King Solomon was a king of peace — HaShem said that David was not to build the temple, because his hands had shed blood; so this responsibility would fall to Solomon, who had never gone to war. Also, the people were shouting “Hosanna to the son of David” — don’t forget that Hosanna is actually Hebrew (Hoshia-na) which means “save, rescue.” They were literally calling Him their savior.

But there is yet another dimension to Yeshua’s arrival in Jerusalem that is often overlooked. This day that many people know as “Palm Sunday” actually fell on the 10th of Nisan according to the Hebrew calendar that year. In case the significance of this date isn’t clear, let’s look at the timing of the first Passover:

ADONAI spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt, saying “You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. (Exodus 12:1-2)

The Passover story begins with the command to mark the month of Nisan as the first month of the year. Thus, Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) occurs in the seventh month (remember that the calendar originally began with the Fall harvest).

Speak to all the assembly of Israel and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family’ (Exodus 12:3)

The selection of the Passover lamb (or kid) occurs on the 10th of Nisan. This is the same day that Yeshua arrived in Jerusalem, known as Paslm Sunday, right before he was to be arrested & executed!

‘Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and the entire assembly of Israel will slaughter it at dusk.’ (Exodus 12:5-6)

Yeshua spent 4 days in Jerusalem, until the 14th of Nisan, presenting himself to the entire community as being without defect!

Side note: when people say that Yeshua is the Passover lamb, it’s also fair to say that He is the Passover kid, and also that He is the comeback kid, because He will come back again!

But there is still more significance to the month of Nisan, and its role as the first month on the calendar. Rosh Chodesh (which is the first day of every month), in Jewish tradition, is known as a day of miracles. It is marked by the appearance of the new moon (the Hebrew calendar is traditionally a lunar calendar), and it is traditional to recite ‘Mi she’asah nissim’ (the One who performed miracles):

The One who performed miracles for our forefathers and redeemed them from slavery to freedom, may He redeem us soon and gather in our exiles from the four corners of the earth; then all Israel shall be freed. Let us say, Amen.

Not only does this liturgy speak of miracles, but it also speaks of redemption—as God redeemed us from Egypt, may He also redeem us from all corners of the Earth. It’s clear that during the time of Yeshua’s ministry, as the Jews in Israel were living under the oppression of the Roman occupation, this would have been a very relevant issue for them. The meaning of this would not have been lost on them as they waited for the arrival of Messiah and His reign on Earth. But an even more significant detail is this: because Nisan is the first of the months, the entire month of Nisan is actually considered to be Rosh Chodesh. In Yeshua’s ministry, He ascended to the temple in Jerusalem 3 times to observe Passover, and each time, he performed many miracles there, during the month of Nisan, during Rosh Chodesh—a time of miracles. Do you see the connection?

Now let’s look at another bit of scripture: in Luke 7:18-35 (this portion describes events from Yeshua’s second year of ministry, also when He went up to the temple for Passover), we see that two of John the Immerser’s (a.k.a. John the Baptist’s) disciples approach Yeshua to ask Him if He is actually the Messiah, and He gives them a very simple answer:

…the blind are seeing again, the lame are walking, people with tzara’at (leprosy) are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised, the Good News is being told to the poor — and how blessed is anyone not offended by me! (Luke 7:22-23)

Now I don’t doubt for a second that John believed Yeshua was the promised Messiah. When Yeshua came to be immersed by John, it was John that insisted on being immersed by Yeshua instead. When John finally relented, the sky was opened and HaShem Himself said that Yeshua was His son, in whom He was well pleased. But clearly some of John’s disciples had their doubts, and John saw it fit that the best solution was for them to ask the man Himself.

As for Yeshua’s response, this isn’t just Him saying “look at all the miracles I can do.” Yeshua was not just proving Himself with a display of abilities. Here Yeshua is saying, “look at all the prophecies being fulfilled. Look at all the redemption taking place, at this very significant time of year. Look at how I fit within the Jewish framework of Messiah that was given to you.”

As Yeshua was healing all these people, I imagine that some of them accepted him as the promised Messiah, but later in this passage we see that many people, especially the P’rushim [Pharisees] and Torah Teachers, challenged and rejected Yeshua. And I think what is essential to understand about this is that in the time of Yeshua’s ministry, the temple in Jerusalem was filled with corruption. When we look at the countless examples of Yeshua’s dealings with the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, and their arguments with Him, and the ways in which they tried to tempt and trap Him, we see a pattern of rotten corruption that has fully blinded them from recognizing Yeshua’s fulfillment of prophecy and His arrival as the spotless, prophetic Passover lamb. I want to bring to mind one example that we are all very familiar with: Yeshua driving the money changers out of the temple. Let’s keep in mind, this took place during the third Passover that Yeshua observed in His ministry. It was actually right after Palm Sunday, the last time that Yeshua would arrive in Jerusalem, and he basically went straight to the temple and drove out all the money changers there. He cleansed and purified the temple — do you think there might be some significance to the timing of this, that it took place during the preparation for Passover?

Well, what do Jews do every year in the preparation for Passover? They clean out their houses by removing every last piece of hametz (leavening). Rav Shaul (Paul) taught us that the hametz represents sin in our hearts:

Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Passover lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah (unleavened bread) of purity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

When we look at hametz as a metaphor for sin, we need to remember that it only takes a little hametz (leavening) to leaven the whole lump of dough—i.e., it only takes a little bit of sin to ruin us. Passover is not just a time to eat matzah, but a time of reflection, of searching and facing all the elements of sin in our lives, no matter how small. But how does this commandment to remove hametz from our houses have any connection to Yeshua driving money changers out of the temple? I’ll get to that soon.

Leviticus 13 gives the regulations for dealing with a disease known as tzara’at, often referred to as leprosy. It’s interesting to look at tzara’at as another metaphor for sin. Tzara’at begins with a tiny sore that is easy to hide or ignore, but if the victim does not present it to be inspected, and it is in fact tzara’at, it can blow up into a full body infection, with catastrophic effects. Also note that the person infected must be separated from the entire community—otherwise, they risk infecting everyone. We often risk the same catastrophic result when we bring our sin into a community of believers, no matter how small that sin may be. Even though we are all sinners, it’s when we ignore our sin or pretend that we don’t need to face it that it becomes contagious. Why is this? It’s because our own complacency toward sin causes others to be complacent too—as they fall in the trap of accepting or ignoring sin, it becomes cultural, and the people around us can be susceptible of committing the same sin. This is why it is important for us to face our sins and confess to our brethren, who can help us deal with the sins that we each struggle with.

Another interesting dimension about tzara’at is that it can infect garments, or as we see in Leviticus 14, the building materials of houses. Leviticus 14 gives the regulations for dealing with an infection of tzara’at in a house, and makes it clear that if a house is in fact infected with tzara’at, then the entire house must be torn down. None of the original building materials may be left intact. There is no salvaging a house infected in this way. If someone is to occupy that space, all the materials of the original house need to be discarded, and a new house must be built there.

I should note here that there is some contention as to what tzara’at actually is. While most people know it as leprosy, there is some likelihood that it is a mold or other fungal agent. Fungal infections are actually very dangerous and hard to contain. If you have any familiarity with these, you can understand the drastic measures that are required for dealing with this particular disease. That being said, this issue of tzara’at affecting houses is a key element in our study of Yeshua and the temple, which I will explain soon. For now, let’s look at another scripture related to Passover.

There is an often overlooked scripture in Ezekiel 45:18-22 that speaks of a vision for a temple that as far as we know, has never existed. Some believe that Ezekiel’s vision is purely symbolic, while others believe that it describes the third temple, which Yeshua will set up after His second coming back to Earth. Regardless, this portion from Ezekiel describes a unique ceremony that is performed in the first month (again, Nisan) in the preparation & observance of Passover!

ADONAI Elohim says, ‘On the first day of the first month, you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary.’ (Ezekiel 45:18)

The portion begins with a requirement to purify the temple—an important element in this preparation for Passover. Also, sacrifices are being performed on behalf of the House of Israel, and the purification is being made by a prince on behalf of the entire community. Is this prince the Prince of Peace? Is the house of Israel the bride of Messiah? We don’t know these things yet. What we do know is that this is a new observance in relation to Passover, and when we connect this prophetic vision for Passover with the account of Yeshua driving money changers out of the temple, we can see that Yeshua is literally driving the hametz out of the temple as a purification effort in preparation for Passover!

At this point it’s important to take a step back and ask ourselves how the Jewish leadership got to be so corrupt that they needed to be removed in such a violent manner. The answer is as simple as sin—they were so complacent and ignorant regarding God’s holy scriptures, that the temple needed to be fully destroyed. Yeshua said himself that not one stone of the temple would be left standing, just like the house infested with tzara’at!

It’s interesting as well to notice a unique provision in Ezekiel:

You are also to do this (sacrifice) on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned inadvertently or through ignorance. Thus you will make atonement for the house. (Ezekiel 45:20)

Here we have a new sacrifice in the preparation for Passover, atoning for sins committed inadvertently or through ignorance. Remember that when Yeshua died on the execution stake, He said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The ignorance had gotten so bad in Jerusalem, that they were not even aware of the sins they were committing! It was so bad that they were capable of condemning their savior to death.

I have to take a moment to mention a recent story in the news that I think is relevant to this issue. Recently, the National Health Service in the United Kingdom conducted a study of all the hospitals in the country and found that at least 12 hospitals had taken the remains of babies that had suffered abortions or miscarriages and discarded them with the regular trash, which often ended up in incinerators that heated the hospitals [source]. Even in cases where the parents had suffered a miscarriage and wanted their baby’s remains to perform a funeral or cremation, the bodies were discarded with the trash as refuse. It’s a shocking story, and even more shocking considering that most people had no idea it was going on (the NHS has since suspeded the practice, but it went on for years). But we have to ask ourselves how things go this bad to begin with. The truth is, it starts with very small sins—statements like, “it’s not really a person, just a fetus” or “it’s not wanted.” It’s the little sins like these, the ones that are easy to overlook or ignore, that lead to catastrophic results.

Sin is never an easy topic. It’s difficult enough to deal with the sins that we know about. If you are guilty of breaking a commandment, you are probably aware of what you did. When we consider that we might also be guilty of sins we are not even aware of, it’s easy to get frustrated—where do we even begin with those? I have enough difficulty dealing with the sins I know about! And now I have to deal with the sins I don’t know about, too? But it’s important to understand that when we search our houses, and more importantly, our temples (as the Bible says, our bodies are temples for the Lord), we should not just search out the sins that we are aware of, but the sins that we may be unaware of, too—the sins that we commit due to complacency, carelessness and ignorance. As we prepare for Passover, it’s easy to get caught up in the superficial elements. I feel proud of myself when I can manage to remove all the hametz from my house and avoid bread for a week. But it’s more important to focus on everything that God is trying to show us, and embrace all the elements that make up this incredible time of year—as Rav Shaul (Paul) taught us, by removing the hametz (sin) from our hearts, and replacing it with the matzah (purity) of truth.

If there is any time of year for us to search our hearts for the sins that we are aware of, and equally, the sins that we are not aware of, let this be that time, focusing not just on the history of Passover, but also on what Passover is today—on the continuing development of God’s provision for us to be freed from slavery, that is, spiritual slavery—the bondage of sin. In this way, we recognize that Passover is not just a thing that happened, but it is also a thing that happens, and as Ezekiel’s prophecy showed us, it is a thing that will happen! If you are a believer, you know that we are freed from Egypt every single day. That freedom is happening every time HaShem frees us from the bondage of sin. Thus, Passover is a continuing part of our spiritual journey. We are continually spared by provision of the eternal sacrifical lamb. Therefore, when we say that we are to observe Passover as if we ourselves were freed from Egypt, it’s not difficult to do because we are. We are freed from Egypt every day by the blood of Yeshua.

That’s the promise of Passover.